Practice Safe Slaughter
by Ellislash
Summary: Rochelle's hurt and the guys are at loose ends. Ellis POV, implied ExR, NxE if you squint, coarse language. I don't own anything Valve does.


It weren't her weight that was the issue. Not bein' able to use my hands was the issue.

"Gotta be a hospital in this city, Lord. Gotta be."

I heard Coach pray. He picked off one a' those spittin' things 'fore it could hock a loogie at us. I prayed too. We had to get out of there, and 'cept for the guns it was too damn quiet.

"I ever tell y'all 'bout the time we played hide-an'-seek paintball? Whoever was it got the gun and had to find us 'fore we'd tackle him. Just like this, come to think of it..."

Nick glared at me like he always does. But this time he also nearly shot me.

"Jesus Christ, man! Watch where you're-"

He pointed and I saw a hunter-type lyin' dead right behind me.

"...shootin'. Thanks."

I got this weird chill and warm feelin' at the same time. It kinda hurt. We kept walkin'.

"There! Three blocks over!"

"Uh, Nick? That ain't a hospital."

He made like he was gonna call me names again, but didn't. Instead he looked at me and my piggy-back rider, and he dropped that stone face of his. Almost like he gave a damn about us.

"Trust me."

"Your eyes're better'n mine, son. Where we goin'?"

Nick didn't answer, he just started walkin'. We had to follow him.

I heard the breathin', but not from her. From _them,_ hidin' all around. I wanted to kill those sonsabitches so bad I could _taste_ it, but Nick had my gun and my hands were full anyhow.

I followed the suit. It looked nice on him. He took us to a place that looked like a clinic, like where you go t'get flu shots. Not they they ended up doin' any good, in the end.

"It's a long shot, but I bet they've got a full surgery in there." Nick pointed to a purple sign on the lawn. "And I don't wanna hear it, _pastor_. We're way past damned already."

I could hear Coach prayin' and apologizin' to God, but I stopped listenin' real fast. Somethin' hot was drippin' down my back, and I got that icky, cold feelin' in my belly.

"We gotta try, she's bleedin' again! Even some fuckin' band-aids, anythin' in there that might help!" I musta looked real scared or somethin' 'cause they got movin' right quick.

There were lots of dead doctors. Mostly ladies. Kids too, an' that just broke my heart. Coach jus' kept prayin'. Even Nick looked like he was gonna cry. That or murder the next poor bastard t'look at him funny. I couldn't rightly say.

Weren't many zombies in there but we still got rid of 'em. We jammed and blocked the front door with desks 'n shit. There weren't no windows. It was dark 'til we found a lil' generator to juice up some lamps. Well, when I say we... I actually jes' carried her an' felt useless. Nick an' Coach did all the work.

"Is this a doctor's office, or a goddamn fortress?"

"Think who they were dealing with, Coach. In the South? You better believe they built this place to handle riots."

Thank God, there was a surgery room. It was even still locked, and ev'rythin' inside was clean and shiny as my brand-new shotgun. Nick picked the lock. He keeps sayin' not to ask how he knows this shit, but sometimes ya gotta wonder. It wasn't one of those times.

They helped me put her down on the funny-shaped table. I'd been carryin' her for two days and my back was killin' me, but it had to wait. Coach pulled out our last bottle of water.

"C'mon, baby girl. Drink up, now."

My hands looked exactly like I'd been doin' all the shit I'd been doin'. I wasn't even sure what color my own skin was anymore. Nick threw a box of rubber gloves at me. They were way too small, and they hurt, but it was better'n nothin'.

The bandage from yesterday sure wasn't any kinda white anymore, but when we got it off, the hole in her was.

"Shit. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit..."

"Shut up, Overalls."

Coach found a morphine shot. It took the pain from her face. I wanted to cry.

We cleaned out the infection. It was thick and smelled bad, which is sayin' somethin' after all the shit we'd been breathin'. We got a whole huge tube of anti-biotic goop an' slathered it everywhere, 'cept not actually inside 'er 'cause that'd jes' make things worse.

"All right. Who knows how to do this?"

Nick and me both did. I've sewn up my own self at least a dozen times. God knows where Nick learned it. Prob'ly the same place he learned to pick locks.

We fixed her up best as we could. It was like gettin' under her hood, y'know, way too personal-like. I could see her engine, and her carburetor, and her oil and gas was leakin' everywhere. Lord musta been watchin' over us, or she'd never have got this far alive.

We grabbed the goop and layered it on thick over the stitches. We musta used about a mile of gauze to wrap her up. Coach made her swallow more pills.

Nick's shirt was purple an' I knew I musta been covered in her blood, too. Back and front, from the piggy-back ride. It was almost funny.

Me 'n Coach went out the back door for groceries since we'd have to hunker down for a while, til she was better. We didn't find much at first, and Coach wanted to go back but I wasn't gonna give up that quick. I finally saw a supermarket, which was pretty much empty, but we took a chance and got lucky in the back. The stockroom hadn't been touched, on account of the huge-ass lock on the huge-ass door.

It took a while, but I picked the lock the way Nick showed me to, that one time when the safehouse was in the bank. The freezer and fridge were dead and stank somethin' awful, but there was whole boxes fulla cans an' energy bars an' all kinds of dried stuff, an' even bottles of water! Me an' Coach, we knelt down right there and thanked the Lord for that blessin'.

We brought back two shoppin' carts full of supplies. There was an issue with them rattlin' and buggin' the zombies. We had to fight 'em off a couple times. Coach was awesome, bustin' heads and shit, and once he made a smoker grab a zombie 'stead of me so I could kill it. We made it back okay, an' none too soon 'cause it was gettin' dark.

"Took you long enough. I was getting bored."

"Nice to see you, too. How's our girl?"

Nick and Coach talked but I didn't listen. I went to the operation room. She was still asleep and her skin was hot, but our stitches weren't leakin'. She looked lonely, all laid out like that, and I hated that I couldn't hug her or kiss her and tell her it was all gonna be okay.

"The hell you crying about? She'll either get better or she won't."

I just about decked him.

"Jesus, Ellis, chill out. Breaking down doesn't help us. Doesn't help _her_."

"I ain't breakin' down! Just... I'm just tired." It was true that I felt like fallin' down to sleep right there on the floor, but I lied about the cryin'. She was the only one of 'em to believe me that we'd all get outa here alive. She was the only other person who'd smile at me. It was hard to keep my spirits up without her.

I musta looked some kinda hell, standin' there, 'cause that ice-cold sonofabitch grabbed my shoulders - actually _touched_ me! And not 'cause he had to get a jockey off me or some shit. He did it on purpose.

"Hey, look at me. _Look_ at me."

I'd never noticed how green his eyes were. Come to think, he'd never looked me in the eye before.

"It's okay. We'll be okay. You hear me? She's gonna get better. You did a great job in surgery and you did a great job finding us food. I mean it. Buck up, kiddo. We're gonna get through this."

I dropped the brim of my hat to keep him from seein', but he musta felt my shoulders shake.

"I'm fine, I'm okay, really, jes' peachy..."

He musta taken off his shirt, to clean it or something, 'cause all he had on was that fancy white jacket of his. It weren't white no more, but it was warm. I left a damp patch on his shoulder, an' he just stood there and held me like he cared. Didn't say a word.

"Th- thanks. Sorry 'bout that. I'm good."

"Yeah, whatever."

I think I was blushin', but Nick got all Nick-y again and Coach didn't look up from his food.

We dragged a couple a' couches from the waiting room, so we could sleep near her. I took first guard, and kept as close an eye on her as I did on the door. She started moanin' twice, an' it made my heart rip into little tiny pieces. All I could do was force more pills down her throat, for the pain.

Nick knew what he was talkin' about when he picked that place. Not a single motherfucker so much as knocked on the door. I figured I could take a breather, so I knelt with my shotgun like one a' them dragon-killin' knight fellers with their swords. I thanked God for his help so far. I begged Him to save her life, and Coach's, and Nick's...

"I'm flattered."

I damn near shot him.

"_Jesus_, man! You got a death wish? Don't _ever_ sneak up on a man with a gun when he's prayin'. Shit."

"Just couldn't sleep."

"Well what're you talkin' to me for? Ain't your watch for two hours yet."

"I need a reason? Goddamnit, Overalls, don't tell me you're not scared shitless."

"What's it to you?"

"More than you think."

"Well I ain't scared a' no zombies. Been through plenty already, an' I'll take out as many more as I gotta-"

"C'mon, don't play."

"Ain't playin'. You want next watch or what?"

"Fuck you."

I couldn't sleep, either, but I realized somethin'.

"Hey, Nick."

"What."

"It's _you_ needs to quit playin'. Tell me what the hell you're bein' so... so _weird_ about. It's buggin' me."

"Bugging you?"

"You heard me."

For no reason I could tell, the bastard laughed. He's got that fake, sarcastic laugh. Kinda sounds like a dog barkin'.

"Ellis, you can be so fuckin' dense sometimes. You're worried about her, well, maybe I am too. That so hard to pick up on?"

"Now that was uncalled for. You've always got that face on, like ice. I can't tell _anythin' _from it, even if I _wanted_ to look at your ugly mug-which I don't."

"Then go to sleep."

I did.

She was worse in the morning, but Coach thought that was a good thing.

"We gotta sweat this fever out, boys. Grab blankets, clothes, anythin'. Give 'em here, Nick."

I cleaned out her stitches and made a new bandage. She was shakin' worse'n Keith did when he grabbed that transformer on a dare. I held her hand and made her swallow more pills.

For the first time on that godforsaken trip we had nothin' to do. The infected left us alone. We didn't talk much - I musta been way tireder than I knew. Then she started moanin' again, and goddamn if it wasn't the worst sound I'd ever heard in my life. I stayed with her, tried talkin' to her. She'd always seemed to like my stories better'n Nick or Coach. They still weren't too keen on 'em.

"Ellis? Shut up."

I didn't. I just talked quieter.

Coach woke me up, dunno when, but her skin seemed cooler. She weren't shakin' anymore, but she weren't hardly breathin', neither.

"Go cheer Nick up. He's beginning to damage my calm."

"But-"

"I'll take care of her. Go on, now."

Nick wasn't in camp. I didn't wanna holler for him, in case there might be zombies around outside, so I took a look around in the doctor's offices. A couple of 'em had these real detailed posters of a lady's... well, y'know.

"It's not _that_ funny."

"THIRD time! Fuck, man, you wanna be out on the table too?"

"You should be more aware of your surroundings. And not just when there's a cunt on the wall, dipshit."

"Hey, if you can't deal with bein' upset, don't take it out on me. What the hell you doin' over here anyhow?"

"It's quieter. Or it was, before you showed up."

"You didn't have to come talk to me. We coulda played hide'n'seek all day an' then I'd go outside to find you and you'da never seen me again!"

"And I'd hate that."

"Damn straight you - wait, what?"

"You heard me."

"Nick, you ain't made a lick of sense in days."

"C'mere."

"Why?"

"Just c'mere."

We sat on the exam table. He was awful close to me, but for once didn't bitch about it.

"You comin' back?"

"Not just yet. I'm thinking."

"About what?"

"Us."

"Huh?"

"Us. The team. The four of us. I... I don't want it to be three."

"Oh."

"And fuck me, I never thought I'd say this, but I miss your dumbass stories. It's like, if _Ellis_ is depressed, I may as well shoot myself now, 'cause this shit's deeper than I can ever get out of."

"So, you're all grouchy... 'cause of _me_?"

"Yeah, Overalls, it's all your fault."

That time I could tell he was kiddin'. He didn't sound like he meant it hurtful. And somehow his head wound up on my shoulder, an' I didn't know what t'do besides put my arm around him. He'd done the same for me, and a man remembers a thing like that. And as God is my witness, the bastard cried.

"Shh, hey now, ain't no call for this, you'll get me started again..."

He covered my mouth with his hand.

"Sh... shut up, Ellis."

He cried quiet, like he expected somebody'd hit him for it. Last time anyone'd cried on me was when me an' Keith's girl had to take him to the hospital for the lawnmower thing. I didn't think pettin' Nick's hair would help, but he'd still got some zombie bits in it, so I brushed 'em out and he seemed to like it. When he was done he'd got blood on his face, from my shirt. I wiped it off.

"Heh. Your eyes an' the blood t'gether, they remind me of Christmas. How dumb is that?"

He musta been too tired to snap at me. We headed back to camp together.

"The hell you guys been? Git over here. Look who's awake!"

"H... Hey, guys..."

"_Rochelle!_"

Both of us got happy real fast. She was weak, but she was smilin' again. Me and Nick smiled too, and looked at each other 'cross the table.

"Told you so, Overalls. Quit being a pussy."

I knew he didn't mean it.


End file.
